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Monday, June 04, 2007

A Day of Knitting & Stash Enhancement!

Saturday was my first time attending the annual Granite State Knit In and it was a day filled with knitting, fiber and friends -- and some yummy food too! I was elected to drive and headed up to Loon Mountain (a pretty drive, though much more interesting in the fall) with Joanne, Marlene and Marlana at the crack of dawn. We met up with Lisa and a few other familiar faces there... signed in and it was immediately off to classes (after grabbing the must have cup of coffee... did I mention we left at the crack of dawn!!??).

Marlene and I took a 2 hour "Finishing With a Difference" class which was interesting, then I had my "Knitted Beaded Earrings" class. It wasn't really a class per say, but more of buying a kit and following along with the very simple and quick pattern. The instructor was there if you had questions, but that was about it. They were fun and very easy to make though. Here is the pair I made in class...

Cute (despite being difficult to photograph well)? They'll make quick and easy gifts if I can figure out some friends & family that would wear them (hint: if you like them, speak up!)...

After classes, it was time for lunch and I was impressed! Joanne had said the lunch was yummy, but I wasn't expecting things like baked fish, spinach & strawberry salad, perfectly steamed broccoli & carrots and delicious rolls (and more!). It was good! After lunch it was time to SHOP! I was quite impressed with my self control frugal and walked around the vendor area a couple of times before deciding on my purchases, which were very few.

I got a kit to make a 2nd pair of the earrings (this one has the beading needle included which my one from class did not) and also a kit for a knit beaded Christmas ornament.

My only other vendor purchase was a bit of a treat however. I scored a skein of Mountain Colors sock yarn in a gorgeous, deep, dark colorway (which the name is escaping me at the moment) that I had eyed since my first visit to that table.... and the real splurge/treat, an absolutely beautiful skein of Great Adirondack Yarn's Sireno, 675 yards of a super soft 50% silk/50% wool (again I forgot to write down the colorway name). I was going back and forth on this one and which colorway to get, but both Joanne & Lisa though the colors were perfect for me and my plan is a nice fall shawl (for which I am now searching for the perfect pattern - any suggestions are much appreciated!). I also grabbed 2 pairs of Brittany needles in sizes I needed...

I did pretty good with the self control, no? I did purchase one of the huge tote bags that I understand was last year's goody bag/gift - and I'm glad I grabbed mine before lunch because there were only a handful out and I guess that was all that was left because I ran in to about a dozen people after with the "I wish I got one in the morning before they were gone." This bag is big enough to run away from home with bigger than any other knitting or tote bag I own - I actually put the knitting tote I brought inside, along with both of my purchase bags and my goody/gift bag they gave this year ... and still had room! Here's the bag along with the contents of this year's gift bag, which included a GSKI bookmark, a skein of yarn, a nifty needle sizer that looks like a jewler's ring sizer, and more ...

I also spent $5 on raffle tickets... and got 15 free from the 2 hats I donated. This is the carousel hat that I donated and entered in to the hat contest...

After days of trashing all of the button sections of AC Moore, Michael's and Joanne's Fabric searching for carousel horse buttons and coming up empty handed, I used some farm ponies, lambs and cows. Sadly, my hat did not finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd.... part of me wants to complain because it appears they put out the ballot box before all of the hats were on the table to judge (including mine!). I had at least 3 people tell me that they had already voted (1 vote per person) and that my hat was not out at the time they voted. Darn it. I also did not win anything from the wonderful raffle prizes either. Actually, none of us won anything and Joanne was even helping draw the numbers. Some girls won multiple raffle items... one girl must've walked away with 5 or 6! Guess now I know why people were buying miles and miles of those little tickets...

I might not have won anything, but at least I know my hats are going to a good cause and I especially hope the carousel hat brings joy to a needy little one (I forgot to photo my second donation hat, but it was just a simple blue infant hat)! My kids despised were reluctant models Friday night after I finished it up...

That's Lola on the left and Zeus on the right... Teutul was too macho to wear the baby hat (or maybe still embarrased by that bib photo)!

The low point of the day - get this! - I forgot to bring a WIP to the knit in to work on during the speaker/raffle and down time. Oopsie! It would've been nice to have something to work on while Lisa worked her felted grapes, Marlene worked on her baby sweater and ... the woman next to Lisa kept dozing off! I hate to laugh, but it was pretty funny. She was even knitting and would doze off, jump when her head started to fall and then doze again. Talk about entertainment! I also forgot to bring the digital camera, but instead had the dinosaurold fashioned film camera. Which means I'll have photos to post in time for next year's Knit In I can't post pictures until I finish the roll, get it developed, pick up the photos....

I made up for the lost knitting time yesterday by casting on a dishcloth (my first "round" one) for the lovely lady I get to spoil in the Summer Dishcloth Swap and making a new mini sock for my sock blocker keychain (I figured it was time for some springy colors and since my wonderful secret pal spoilee sent me a great mini sock stash, I had to get knitting). Here's the dishcloth in progress, as well as my ankle sock (in Sereknity Triple Scoops) which I worked on just a bit over vacation...

And here's the new mini sock, done in the springy colorway Foofaraw from Blue Moon Fiber (hey, does that mean that my mini sock blocker now rocks??)... and the "out with the old, in with the new pic..."

Question for my fellow mini sock knitters... what do you do with your old socks when you remove them for a new one? I'm trying to think of something more creative than just tossing them all in a basket... ideas?

I also wanted to share my little stash enhancement from just before I left for vacation. Joanne had a great sale over at A Knitter's Garden and I brought home 3 skeins of Wool in The Woods and a beautiful, luxurious hank of baby pink alpaca. I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with the wool yet, but am thinking about making a lace dog paw print scarf with the alpaca. Isn't it gorgeous ~ if only they had touch-o-vision for blogs!

Joanne also had a fun and brain-jerking word scramble contest as part of her sale and guess what? I won! Yes, I did win something! I got my lovely prize on Saturday... a yummy strawberry shortcake bath set, complete with 2 of the softest hand towels ever. Thanks Joanne!

Big knitting weekends are great, aren't they? You scored some great stuff... be sure to post those pics!

Sounds like the GSKI contest is still disorganized. I remember the same kind of thing with people's items the two years that I went. Were there more vendors? The last time I went there were only 10 or so.

I would have voted for your carousel hat - I love it! The pups are adorable as always, but maybe need to watch a few episodes of "America's Next Top Model" so Ms. Tyra can show them how to give good face when wearing handknits! (instead of looking like they are being punished)

That's some good stuff.Your hat should have won. That is a wonderful hat! Did you make that pattern up? It's so funky. And I would have voted for it too.

The mini socks are so adorable. So you make these and then throw them in a basket? oh, I'd decorate my house with these for the winter. You could string them on a mini clothes line. Or... you could have a contest and have a pair of mini socks as a prize. Just an idea. I think they are just precious.